


What Did We Do

by arandomshipper (Giveadogabone)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/F, First Time, Period-Typical Homophobia, Romance, implied past noncon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-02-05 08:56:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12791139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Giveadogabone/pseuds/arandomshipper
Summary: Princess Sapphire is the jewel of Gemland, famed far and wide for her beauty.  Her father, King Diamond, fearing for her chastity, assigns her a personal guard named Ruby.  That may have been a mistake.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The song "Entirely New" always felt like a 'morning after' scene. I just couldn't resist creating a scenario in which that's exactly what it is...so I did. All of the dialogue of the song is included at the end of this story, along with my personal headcanon on the thoughts and feelings behind the words.

Once upon a time, there lived a princess named Sapphire. Her father was King Diamond, ruler of Gemland. 

King Diamond was an imperialistic, power hungry tyrant, constantly looking to expand his borders and influence by any means necessary. For him, everything was a tool to be used for that purpose, including his own children, of which he had many. His children that were skilled in combat were sent to the battlefront to wage his many wars. His children that were skilled strategists became generals. His children skilled in politics became ambassadors. Skilled administrators ruled alongside their father, taking control of parts of the ever-growing empire.

One of the more efficient tactics King Diamond implemented to take over other kingdoms was to marry off one of his daughters to an aging foreign king, and simply annex the kingdom when the old king died. For this purpose, King Diamond kept a number of his daughters sequestered to insure that they would remain pure, for entering such a marriage sullied would render it null and void. Among these daughters was Princess Sapphire.

However, Princess Sapphire proved to be unnaturally intelligent and insightful. King Diamond found it very beneficial to consult her on issues of war and peace alike, and because it was not always convenient to visit her in her seclusion, he often had to send for her for their many meetings.

Now, Princess Sapphire was a rare beauty of the variety seen once a generation at most. Though King Diamond took pains to keep her concealed when he sent for her, occasionally a servant or soldier would catch a glimpse of her captivating face, and rumors began to spread. 

When King Diamond learned that the entire kingdom knew of the treasure he kept hidden in her tower, he grew fearful that some brave and foolish soul would breach the tower to take his precious jewel. In response, he assigned a female soldier to be Princess Sapphire's personal bodyguard, with instructions to never allow the princess out of her sight. They were to live together, eat together bathe together, and even sleep together. Only then would King Diamond's paranoia be assuaged. The name of the soldier given the assignment was Ruby.

Ruby was in awe of Princess Sapphire from the time they were introduced. Her beauty, grace and intelligence were so great that she hardly seemed human. More like a goddess in human form. Even more amazing to her, Princess Sapphire treated her with kindness and respect, as a friend and equal, which was virtually unheard of within the rigid caste system that was Gemland. Ordinarily, the higher classes treated the lower as trash, or as expendable tools at best, taking their cue from the leader of the country. Princess Sapphire was of the very highest class in the land, and Ruby, a grunt level soldier, was of the lowest. Ruby expected to be treated as furniture. She didn't expect the princess to speak to her at all, let alone to greet her warmly each morning or to consult her as if her opinions actually mattered.

On the other hand, Princess Sapphire found Ruby to be pleasant company of a kind she never knew existed, let alone expected to actually encounter. What was most striking to her was what Ruby lacked. 

The arrogance and callousness that was common to the nobility, the only people Sapphire had ever really been around. Sapphire had plenty of confidence in herself and her abilities, but this self-confidence did not translate into arrogance looking down on others in her, and she had no respect for those in whom it did. 

The disconnect from one's own emotions and constant concealment of one's true thoughts, a trait Sapphire shared with her noble brethren. Ruby's emotions, whatever they happened to be, always lay plain on her face and in her actions. Anything she said and did was straight from the heart, a source of constant amusement and fascination for Sapphire. 

The unreasoning hatred of the enemies of Gemland. Though Sapphire was loyal to her father and country, she had never hated those set against them. They were just people, like herself. She had thought herself alone in such thinking, until she met Ruby. Ruby, though she was emotional and prone to outbursts, did not have a hateful bone in her body.

By the King's orders, the two of them were together all day every day, and every day they were both even happier with the arrangement than the day before. They found joy in their similarities, joy in their differences, joy in the times they talked for long hours together, joy in the silences. Love sprouted from the time they first met, and it grew inexorably with every moment they spent together.

Perhaps what eventually happened between them was inevitable, or perhaps it would never have happened at all if not for the strange sequence of events leading up to it. One fateful day, Princess Sapphire injured her back in a fall. It was highly unusual, for Sapphire was the very image of grace and poise. In fact, that was the first time in her memory that she had done such a clumsy thing. One might extrapolate that it could only ever happen if she was heavily distracted by something, such as Ruby spinning in circles and singing silly songs in a display of cuteness that was QUITE unfair, in Sapphire's humble opinion, but that's neither here nor there. The point is what happened next.

Though the two of them had lived together for some time now, casual physical contact was not part of their daily routine. By unspoken agreement and understanding, they did not touch unless it was absolutely necessary. Thus, the length of time it took Ruby to carry the princess back to their room was the longest they had ever been in contact with each other, leaving both very flustered and nervous. They did not speak, and the air was heavy with something indefinable that neither knew or understood, but both were fearful of, for the remainder of the day. And then. Although it had begun to lessen over time, it returned tenfold when it was time to bathe, for Ruby had to not only carry Sapphire to the bath, but to strip her once there, an act she had never been responsible for in the past, Sapphire being very much the independent soul. And, having stripped her beloved princess with trembling hands and a brain on the verge of shutting down entirely, she then had to lift Sapphire's naked body to her own in order to lower her into the bath.

Upon somehow managing the task, Ruby retreated to the perceived safety at the furthest edge of the extremely large bath, breathing heavily and trying to still the trembling of her whole body. All of her being was focused on maintaining control. Of what, she had no idea, but she was certain beyond doubt that she had been about to lose it, whatever IT was.

She didn't know that on the other side of the bath, Sapphire was experiencing the very same thing, with no more idea what it was or what to do about than Ruby herself. She knew that SOMETHING had almost happened, but she didn't know if it was good or bad, safe or dangerous, pleasant or painful. For all she knew, it was a mixture of all of those things. 

However, Sapphire was very different from Ruby. Practicality was her defining trait, even overpowering her good judgement at times, and such was the case here. Whatever it was that had almost happened did not change the fact that she needed to be washed, and she could not wash herself. She called Ruby over to help her, and Ruby had no choice but to obey, and that...was the moment when the possibly inevitable became the definitely unstoppable.

A gentle touch became a stroke, a caress, a fondle, ever escalating, as both quickly lost whatever control they had. They had no idea what they were doing, all they knew is that they couldn't stop. It was a physical and emotional explosion of everything that had been building up for months. Sapphire's injury did nothing to deter them from their course, Ruby's every act one of protection for her presumably more fragile friend, yet still sufficient to bring pleasure to both of them.

It was at the very height of their pleasure, just as Sapphire, in a burst of the insight and understanding for which she was so well known, pulled Ruby to her and pressed the two of them together, lips, chests, bodies, souls, that King Diamond himself walked in on them. He gaped in shock, but his rage quickly overpowered his surprise.

"Abomination!" He roared, for the very idea of two females being intimate with each other was foreign to Gemland. Adding to his anger was the fact that Sapphire would now be useless as a potential marriage partner. He left Sapphire's tower, locking the only door from the outside, intending to return with soldiers at his back. Unbeknownst to him, Sapphire had created another exit against just such an eventuality. She took advantage of Ruby's state of panic to convince her to run away. The two dressed in the most innocuous clothing Sapphire had, and Ruby carried Sapphire away from the tower.

When King Diamond returned to find them missing, he sent a contingent of elite soldiers to hunt them down. Ruby and Sapphire fled into the wild forest surrounding the castle, deciding to risk the dangers of uncivilized land in the hopes that they would be harder to find, and indeed, though neither had any wilderness training, they proved more adept than the elite soldiers tracking them. Nevertheless, they came very close to exposure a few times, in one particular case a soldier duo passing right by their current hiding spot, allowing them to overhear the conversation between the two. It was at that point that Ruby discovered what Sapphire had always suspected, that the king had no intention of throwing away such a useful tool as the princess. He would execute Ruby and cover the event up, pretending that Sapphire remained pure.

When they were safe once more, Ruby finally spoke, breaking the silence that had existed between them ever since deciding to run.

"We have to go back!"

"No! They'll kill you!"

"Who cares?! It's not safe out here! I can't protect you! I can't even-" It began to rain. "Can't even keep the rain off of you?! We gotta find shelter! Come on!"

Ruby carried Sapphire around with frantic energy until they found a cave. Ruby set the princess down and started a fire.

"Thank you." Sapphire said, pushing her hair back to reveal her eyes. Ruby was at once struck dumb with just how impossibly beautiful her eyes were. They were always covered by her bangs, even remaining so during their most intimate moments in the bath earlier. The tales of the beautiful princess were by no means exaggerated, but they were spread by people who had never seen her eyes. If those people had seen what Ruby now could, she thought they would't dare speak of it, for words could never do it justice. She sat next to Sapphire, silenced by the awe of her princess yet again, just like the day they first met.

Sapphire had something she wanted to talk about, though. Something she NEEDED to talk about. "That thing we did, that was...sex, right? I've heard of it, read about it, but I didn't think it would be like that. I had no idea it felt so...GOOD like that."

"It's NEVER like that!" Ruby responded. "The women soldiers like me are expected to let the men have sex with us, but we just lay back and think of Gemland while they...do it to us, you know? All the touching and the kissing and the...feeling GOOD was never a part of it. And I never knew two girls could do it!"

"Neither did I, but...it was nice, right?"

"Yeah. It was nice."

It was the biggest understatement of either of their lives, but they had no words to actually describe their feelings, and each could tell that the other understood anyway, so they settled into a comfortable silence where they just thought and felt and let their minds wander rather than speaking.

When the rain let up, they left their safe little cave, and the whole world seemed different. Brighter. Better. Every sight and sound and smell was new and interesting. They reveled in their surroundings and in each other.

As night fell, they dropped down to lay on a grassy hill, looking up at the stars. Ruby had so much she wanted to say, her feelings bursting inside her chest, but she still didn't have the words. She forced herself to speak anyway. "Oh...um...well, I just can't help thinking."

Sapphire understood exactly what Ruby was going through, because it was the same for her. But she had a slightly better grasp on the kinds of things she wanted to know. "So...um....did you say I was different?"

It wasn't quite what she wanted to ask, she was still a bit too tongue tied to articulate properly, but it was a step in the right direction. Ruby gave a tiny nod, and followed up with a question of her own. "And you hadn't before?"

"Of course not!" Sapphire hastily responded, wanting to quickly reassure the person she was certain she was deeply in love with that she had never shared anything like that with anyone but her. Her lips spread in a gentle smile that was nearly involuntary when she contemplated that she would only ever have one partner for all her life. "When would I have ever?"

But to Ruby, her quick response sounded like an accusation. How dare a lowlife like you have taken my innocence and virginity. Though Sapphire viewed them as equals, to Ruby, Sapphire was an unattainable goddess who tolerated her out of good will alone. "I'm so sorry." She said remorsefully.

Sapphire immediately understood where Ruby's thoughts had gone, and tried her best to reassure her. "No, no, don't be!"

But Ruby still blamed herself. Blamed herself for forcing herself on Sapphire, for tearing her away from her family and country, for dooming her to live in obscurity and poverty out here in the wild, or die. "And now you're here forever!"

Sapphire knew she had to convince Ruby that she had done nothing wrong, that everything she had done was only what Sapphire had wanted her to do. "Well, what about you?"

"What about me?" Ruby didn't really understand the question. In her mind, her own importance was nonexistent compared to Sapphire. She would gladly give up her life to return Sapphire to the lap of luxury, if Sapphire would allow her to. To Ruby, it made no sense for Sapphire to be asking about her.

And Sapphire knew that. And so she did her best to make Ruby understand that the only way Sapphire would ever be happy is if she was together with Ruby. To accomplish this, she used both her words and her actions. "Well, you're here too. We're here together."

Sapphire took Ruby's hand in her own, drawing her up. She embraced her love in a dancer's grip, doing everything in her power to express to Ruby without words that she was not lesser, that she was wanted, needed, that to Sapphire she was irreplaceable. 

And slowly, Ruby did begin to understand. Because deep in her heart, she knew already. They were two halves of a whole. Incomplete without each other. Ruby always knew she was incomplete without Sapphire, but now she was forced to accept that yes, Sapphire was incomplete without her as well. Their hearts and bodies grew closer together as they danced the night away.


	2. Epilogue

Ruby picked Sapphire up and twirled her around, but she tripped on a fallen tree branch attempting the unfamiliar dance move, and the two went tumbling down a hill, laughing all the way.

However, their laughter died away as they looked up at the tall, thin warrior woman at whose feet they had fallen. She was a picture of deadly grace, radiating confidence and danger from every pore, threatening even if her sword had been in in its sheath instead of pointed at them.

Ruby moved to shield Sapphire with her body, who embraced her from behind. "Don't hurt her!" They both yelled, Ruby demanding, Sapphire pleading. "Don't hurt...me?" Ruby asked in confusion, still not used to having someone be concerned for her well being. Sapphire hugged her tighter.

But the tall warrior did not speak. She merely kept looking down at the unlikely pair with an unreadable expression, until another even larger figure approached, and she turned and dropped to one knee, head bowed and a hand over her heart in reverence.

"Relax. No one is going to hurt you if I have anything to say about it. Either of you." The giant woman reassured Sapphire.

Sapphire and Ruby gasped. They both knew this woman by description. Everyone did. Rose Quartz. The leader of the only rebellion in Gemland's history to last more than a day or two, currently the most wanted criminal in the empire.

"I started this war for freedom, to make this kingdom safe for people like you. People like us." Rose continued. "I would never let anyone hurt you for being what you are."

"And what are we?" Sapphire asked, her curiosity overtaking her fear. "What is this connection I feel with Ruby? Why do I feel like she's more important than anyone or anything else?"

"Yes, why does Sapphire care so much about me even though I'm a nobody? Why is she willing to sacrifice so much just to be with me?" Ruby put in.

"You stop that." Sapphire whispered fiercely, squeezing Ruby tighter still. "You're not a nobody."

"Because what you two have is worth every sacrifice. It's worth fighting for, worth dying for, worth starting a war for." Rose Quartz knelt and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "And so I'd like to invite you two into my army. Come with me. Fight for me. Fight for yourselves. Fight for everyone like you." She raised the two of them up and looked them each in the eye. "Fight for love."


End file.
